247 Pa. Super. 373 - Commonwealth v. Jacobs’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

56 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 56 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “appears to be in accordance with the view of a majority of jurisdictions which have decided that an unexplained breaking and entering into a building is in itself sufficient to sustain a conviction for burglary with the intent to commit larceny” because, in the absence of evidence of other intent or explanation for breaking and entering,”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Gear v. State · Commonwealth v. Wilamowski

2. “"The indictment returned by the grand jury accused appellant in language nearly identical to that of Section 4(q) of The Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act. The indictment alleged that appellant `did possess, control, deal in, dispense, sell, deliver, distribute or traffic in a narcotic drug: to wit: Hashish.' . . . ..... The function of a bill of particulars is to enable the accused to prepare for trial and to prevent surprise. Thus it has long been the law in Pennsylvania that the Commonwealth is restricted to proving what it has set forth in the bill. Since the bill alleged only that appellant had committed a `sale', the Commonwealth, absent an amendment to the bill expressly allowed by the trial court[s], was limited to proving that appellant was guilty of a `sale.' . . . Thus by reviewing all of the evidence, and viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, we must determine whether the evidence was sufficient to establish that appellant `sold' a prohibited drug."”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 261 Pa. Super. 161 - Commonwealth v. Russell

3. “The record contains no evidence of an intention to commit any felonious act against the ... [victim]. It is true that intent may be inferred from actions as well as words. These actions, however, must bear a reasonable relation to the commission of the felony. The record discloses an overt act sufficiently proximate to the alleged intended crime which may properly be said to be one of the natural series of acts required for the commission of the crime. The verdict is one which under the evidence could only be reached by, and based upon, conjecture and surmise rather than permissible inferences from evidence adduced.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Wilamowski